Carragher left seething about 'definite penalty'

Jamie Carragher could not hide his anger after Liverpool were denied what he saw as a clear penalty at Anfield. The defender was sure his header had been handled by William Gallas's outstretched arm and the video replays agreed.

"It was a definite penalty," said Carragher. "They were crying about various things before the game but hopefully we have a bit more dignity about us at this club. Whenever we play Chelsea we always seem to get penalties that aren't given but we won't cry too much about what happened."

Carragher's sharp reaction was a thinly disguised swipe at Jose Mourinho's habit of complaining about Luis García's goal in the second leg of the European Cup semi-final here four months ago. Liverpool's players have been increasingly irritated about these provocative statements, particularly as the Chelsea manager seems to have overlooked the fact that a penalty would have been given against his team, and Petr Cech sent off, if García's effort had been ruled not to have crossed the line.

Last night Carragher might also have pointed out that the referee Massimo De Santis could have awarded a penalty against Didier Drogba for taking away Sami Hyypia's standing leg in the first half and that, minutes before Gallas's escape, Paulo Ferreira made a sly tug at García's shirt-sleeve as he burst into the penalty area. As fouls go, Ferreira's gentle touch was as subtle as they come.

The Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez refused to criticise officials even though there was clearly a simmering sense of injustice. "You could say we should have had a penalty but the most important thing for me was to see that we were at the same level as Chelsea," he said. "Our plan was good. We played with a high tempo, we were good in the air, good on the ground. We showed we can beat them. We played better than them."

Mourinho disagreed. "I'm not crazy with happiness but I'm not sad either," he said. "A point in the Champions League away from home is a positive result and I don't think either side deserved to win the game. They used [Peter] Crouch - some like him, some don't. Some criticise direct play, some love it. As opponents we don't have to like it or not, we just have to cope with it. Liverpool didn't create much danger with that direct style."